“But unless you’re already worried about your child’s academic performance and you want to make sure you use the summer really well to build those extra supports and extra learning, the summer rink is not this big boogie that we should all run away from,” she said.
For kids who may already be struggling with their end-of-school academics, summer is a great time to catch up and help them better prepare for next year. Schools sometimes run summer school for a few weeks or offer programs that combine learning, fun activities and a review of the previous year.
“For parents, (these district programs) are usually low-cost or free, so it’s kind of the best of all worlds where kids can be a part of activities during the day, often with their peers,” Kufeld said.
What are great summer learning activities for kids?
For younger children, Dr. MH Razaassociate professor in the College of Education at Missouri State University, suggests parents keep learning activities simple during the summer.
“Parents can do it naturally; they don’t need to make learning a burden for their children,” Raza said.
He adds that 20 minutes a day of a stress-free learning activity is usually all it takes to help kids grow intellectually over the summer.
Raza listed the following as activities parents could potentially use:
- Have your kids create a shopping list and take it with them to the grocery store. Children can browse products, compare prices and help decide which product to buy.
- While driving, parents can point out road signs and have their children read them. Or they can ask their children to spell the words they see.
- Parents can talk to their children about their life stories and experiences.
- Children can be more involved with baking or cooking and help measure ingredients.
- Parents can get kids involved in backyard projects or science experiments.
For educators, the researchers suggest that teachers spend some time reviewing the previous year’s content at the beginning of the year. Kuhfeld says most teachers already do this, according to past studies and research.
“Teachers are so challenged in terms of having to review the material and fit it into the curriculum for the entire year,” Kufeld says. “Building in review time seems quite normative and it is expected that children will not have memorized everything they have learned in the previous year.”
Learning loss in teenagers
However, it’s not just younger children who can experience learning loss during the holidays. Older students may also encounter the summer slide.
“I believe that older children, especially high school and college students, also have learning loss, but that learning loss is not well documented,” says Raza.
He explains that critical thinking, engagement, self-reflection and practical application are deeply connected to the learning environment. When older students are excluded from the academic environment or from their peer groups, they often face learning loss. But he says more research needs to be done to quantify or measure the impact.
Todd Irving, principal of Pinole Valley High School, suggests students look into non-traditional summer school activities. Irving points out that his school offers a program in the summer, but students can also take courses at a local college or even online.
“There are many ways you can run summer school,” Irving said. “We encourage them to read and just do different things.”
But he warns students not to take on too much during the break.
“One of the things we don’t want to do is burn them out in summer school and so when they come back in September, by the time we get to October, November, they’re like, ‘I’m burned out,'” he said. “So we have to be really strategic with how we do this.”
